Donald Trump Changes His Position on Abortion

In a short video published on his favored platform, Truth Social, Donald Trump distanced himself from a total ban on elective abortion, expressing his desire to allow the states to implement their own legislation regarding abortion:

“The states will determine by vote or legislation or perhaps both. And whatever they decide must be the law of the land--in this case, the law of the state.” He added that people would have to come to terms with the idea that in the future, “Many states will be different. Many will have a different number of weeks or some will have more conservative [restrictions] than others [...] At the end of the day, this is all about the will of the people.” 

Trump’s new stance was criticized by leaders of the pro-life movement, such as Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, and Lila Rose of Live Action. “We are deeply disappointed in President Trump’s position,” Marjorie Dannenfelser released a statement saying. “Unborn children and their mothers deserve national protections and national advocacy from the brutality of the abortion industry. The Dobbs decision clearly allows both states and Congress to act.” Trump, however, has recently refused to endorse a national abortion ban, instead emphasizing the importance of states’ rights in deciding abortion legislation.

And to add a little more to the confusion, two days later, on April 10, Donald Trump joined the criticisms of abortion supporters in Arizona, denouncing a decision of that state’s Supreme Court totally banning elective abortion: “Yeah, they did [go too far] and that will be straightened out [...] And I’m sure that the governor and everybody else are going to bring it back into reason,” he commented.

Unconditional supporters of Donald Trump don’t believe it’s appropriate to overburden the Republican candidate with criticisms a few months before the presidential race. They say that he is responsible for the abolition of Roe v. Wade, the ruling that had legalized abortion at the national level in 1973.

Moreover, according to them, Donald Trump would now strive to find a more practical and convincing position on abortion, at a moment when the radical positions of pro-life activists could discourage some of the voters of the Grand Old Party from voting for him this November 5.

On the side of his Democrat rival, this sudden reversal of position is ridiculed: “Trump’s in trouble and he knows it,” quips President Biden. He sees it as a sign that Donald Trump is “afraid the women of America are going to hold him responsible for taking away their rights and endangering their rights at the ballot box in November.” 

Another problem is perhaps behind this reversal of the former president, who has undoubtedly noticed--with surveys to back it up--that secularization is increasingly winning over American society, and that the conservatism that he embodies is no longer fully aligned with the pro-life movement. 

Will supporters of the right to life see a form of cynicism in this change of heart that may influence on their choice on November 5? “We only get out of ambiguity at our own expense,” Cardinal de Retz liked to say.